Saudis certainly know how to party. Well, some of them at least. The scene above (via the American Bedu blog) shows youthful revelry in the streets of Jeddah during last year's National Day celebrations.

But Halloween? Isn't that the kind of festival that's condemned by clerics and observed only by unbelievers?

At the end of October, US consular staff joined more than 150 young Saudis (male and female, mostly in their twenties and thirties) at an underground Halloween party in Jeddah.

"The scene resembled a nightclub anywhere outside the Kingdom: plentiful alcohol, young couples dancing, a DJ at the turntables, and everyone in costume," according to one of the latest Wikileaks documents. It says:

Behind the facade of Wahhabi conservatism in the streets, the underground nightlife for Jeddah's elite youth is thriving and throbbing. The full range of worldly temptations and vices are available – alcohol, drugs, sex – but strictly behind closed doors. This freedom to indulge carnal pursuits is possible merely because the religious police keep their distance when parties include the presence or patronage of a Saudi royal and his circle of loyal attendants ...

A report in the Guardian says the Halloween party was thrown by "a wealthy prince from the large al-Thunayan family" (though it does not name him) and adds that an American energy drinks company also put up some of the finance.

Parties in Saudi Arabia are something I've commented on before. There's one law for the rich and well connected – in which case it's OK – and another for everyone else – in which case you're liable to have the gathering broken up and get arrested and/or flogged.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 8 Dec 2010.